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WHY HEALTH IS IMPORTANT:

Good health gives us control over our own lives. Yet, we truly don't appreciate it until it's gone. Life sneaks up on us and snaps it's sharp teeth onto the bottom of our britches. There's almost the sound of a metal clang as the dragon teeth of time catches us unaware.

One might think, "Oh, I'll get better after this injury." or "Yeah, I know. I've had a major car accident just after 10 months of post-partum which was after a still-birth. And, of course I know I have Diabetes. But, I'll get better. I'm only 39 years old afterall!"

That was my thinking in 2003. The hospital overlooked a pinched nerve, even though I complained repeatedly. It's currently 2009 and I am NOT all better now. Pain is 24x7. Walking is painful. Sitting is painful. Laying down is even worse.

When we're young, we have no concept of bad health that plagues some people. We think it's just like a cold or the flu occasionally. But, when health is gone for good, it's GONE.

That means having to waste gas trying to find a parking spot close by because some able-bodied person illegally used a handicapped placard. It means using a dorky and unweildy cane. It means someone else has to carry the heavy bags of groceries into the house and that you have to make more trips because you can't carry as much. It means not being able to do your favorite sport in most cases. You can't stand in a long line waiting for a signature on your Star Trek picture. It means not getting enough sleep. It means missing out on a lot of group activities and travel.

It means a shorter life span.

In case that's not clear, that means less time to love and be loved. Less fun. Less of everything on this earth.

If you are healthy, take actions that will enable you to heal faster and live longer WITH health. I once heard (about 13 years ago) that it takes about 20 to 25 years of a bad dietary habit for diseases to begin showing up.

That information is most certainly out of date these days. When mothers who eat poorly (who also had mothers who ate poorly) give birth to a child, that child no longer has 25 years of grace. I am a good example of that. Record numbers of children under the age of 18 are having GERD and having Gall Bladders removed due to bad diet and inherited weakness. Type 2 diabetes (which used to be what only old people got) in children has also been on the rise.

We are headed for a generation of people who will be old before their time. Are you going to be one of them? Protect what health you've got because it's all you get. That's why it's important.

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